Burglary 'link' in quad bike deaths

Burglary 'link' in quad bike deaths

Burglary 'link' in quad bike deaths

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Police and Network Rail clear up wreckage after two men on a quad bike were hit by a train

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The wrecked quad bike is removed from the scene

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Two men have died after a quad bike was hit by a train

Police and Network Rail clear up wreckage after two men on a quad bike were hit by a train

Two men killed when a train hit a quad bike may have been fleeing the scene of a burglary, police said.

The pair, who were identified as Trevor Davies, 20, and David Cooper, 24, both from the Rumney area of Cardiff, died following the incident on the railway line at Rumney, at about 4.15am on Wednesday.

South Wales Police officers who were investigating a burglary at the nearby Go Outdoors store, on Newport Road, at 4am said the same men may be involved.

A statement from the force said: "Police believe that the men who made off from the Go Outdoors store after committing the burglary may be the same men involved in the fatal incident at a nearby railway line. Although it is too early to be certain at this stage."

Officers are viewing CCTV footage and appealing for witnesses to contact them.

British Transport Police (BTP), who are investigating the collision, said two quad bikes were recovered from the tracks and that they believe two other people fled the scene.

Chief Inspector Sandra England, BTP sector commander for Wales, said the men who died were riding east down the track towards Newport when they were struck from behind by the train, which was travelling at about 70mph.

Ms England said the train driver was "pretty shaken up" and officers would be speaking to him fairly urgently. "We will be following up all lines of inquiry to find out what the men were doing there at that time of night," she added.

The collision happened on the line close to New Road and involved an empty passenger train travelling from the Canton depot in Cardiff to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

It was not known whether the pair who left the scene were male or female, she said.